NOW LIVE! Today's the day you meet your new best friend. You don’t have to leave Wolfy behind... In 'Pets & Sidekicks' your companions level up with you!

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Message: <blockquote data-quote="Marcus Smythe" data-source="post: 3009776" data-attributes="member: 43198">1.)  RE Concentration Checks when Grappled:  Considering that the grapple also probably came with some damage, some continuing damage, and in the anticipation of you-just-died damage, Ill pay the gold and not roll.2.)  RE:  House Rule.  We differ in perception.  My perception is that you would be aware that a foe is provoking AOOs (else, how could one make them?  And they cant just happen automatically, without your concious involvement, else how could you choose NOT to make them?)3.)  Well, he gave up infinite spells known, two free feats of higher relative value (if you wish, in my games, I suppose you may get psionic 'manifesting' in place of arcane finger-waving etc., and a 5XP per GP ratio for expensive magic items, rather than the familiar and scribe scroll.  As a GM, I wouldnt have a problem with that trade being made by a player) and all the other differences that are advantage mage.4.)  Placing exact values on every advantage and disadvantage and weighing them:  Its a good starting place, but its not the end of the analysis.  Lets face it, even in an everything-has-a-cost system (say, the HERO system), and even assuming that all those costs are exactly correct for the general condition (a big assumption, and one that no game has yet met, IMHO), then certain combinations of those abilities will still outperform others.5.)  Product Support defines the play environment, which is why it is a consideration at the very least in balance discussions, IMHO.  I intially offered to compare at the core+complete level (That is to say, Complete Warrior, Divine, Arcane, Adventurer, and Psion, coupled with the XPH, the PHB, the DMG, and MM1).  At least one poster (was it you?) was unhappy with that chosen level.  Oh, well, cant please everyone.RE:  Spells.In my gaming experience, crowd control is very nearly transitive with death in game situations.  While a CCed target is not YET dead, he probably can be very easily MADE dead, and his absence from the fight throws the balance against his side pretty seriously (assuming he was a significant target.  If he was the Goblin compainon of a Great Wyrm, and you should be fighting a Great Wyrm, ignore him.  If hes one of 3 same-CR baddies in an encounter, and you put him out of the fight for even two rounds, the fight is pretty much done)As for Mordenkainens Disjunction:  While not a kill in and of itself, the advantage generated is, like Ottos Dance, sufficient to generate one.As for Power Word:  Kill (and argueably its lesser cousins are BETTER, tactically, as they work on higher HP targets)... for anything with HP <= 100, its a death sentence.  Ive played alot of PCs that had <=100 HPs.  As for foes?  Sure, you have to wait till round 2 or so, but after the Barbarian Charged it, you nuked it, the rogue shanked it, and the cleric whapped it, its a 'forced close' button.  Turns any close call fight into a win.And why are you fighting things that you cant get under 100HP before they TPK you, anyway?Enervation Salvos:  I was referring to Enervation+Quickened Enervation, Quickened Enervation+Dual Wand Wielding for 2 more, or Metamagiced Innervation.  Its one of those things that gets nasty, fast, when you start piling it out.  2d4 negative levels stinks.  4+1d4 Negative levels REALLY stinks.  Best bet is to have one memorized Quickened, Split (and run it through a rod of Maximize) and have one memorized Maximized, Split (and run it through a Rod of Quicken).  16 Negative Levels, no save.   <img src="https://cdn.jsdelivr.net/joypixels/assets/8.0/png/unicode/64/1f615.png" class="smilie smilie--emoji" loading="lazy" width="64" height="64" alt=":confused:" title="Confused    :confused:"  data-smilie="5"data-shortname=":confused:" /></blockquote>

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